Did the newly appointed Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov, say that he would set the draft age for the Ukrainian army at 16, considering this change to be fair? No, he didn't: Lead Stories found that Umerov made no such statement.
On September 14, 2023, this claim appeared in a video posted on the TikTok account @sanika.f ( archived here) and was also shared by the accounts @katerinapirs9 (archived here) and @dicper12 (archived here).
The graphic overlay on the video says, in Russian:
They will start conscription from the age of 16. According to the Family Code of Ukraine, Ukrainians can get married and have children from the age of 16, so the new minister of Ukraine, Umerov, will set the draft age at 16, considering this change fair.
(All translations from Russian into English by Lead Stories staff.)
Below is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 3 11:52:23 2023 UTC)
Lead Stories found that the claim that Ukraine's family code allows Ukrainians to marry and have children from the age of 16 is false. In 2012, the Family Code of Ukraine was amended to raise the minimum age of marriage for girls from 17 to 18; the minimum age for boys was already set at 18 (Article 23). However, a court in Ukraine may authorize a person 16 years of age or older to marry if it is determined that the marriage is in his or her interest. Sexual intercourse and other activities of a sexual nature with persons under the age of 16 are illegal under Articles 155 and 156 of Ukraine's Criminal Code.
The new Ukraine Defence Minister, Rustem Umerov, did not make a statement on setting the draft age at 16 years, considering this change to be fair. Lead Stories found no such information on the official website of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, where the country's defense minister statements are collected, or the Ministry's social media accounts, or Umerov's official social media accounts, or in his address to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on September 6, 2023, on the day of his appointment to this post. In addition, no legislative proposal provides for such a change on the official website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Ukrainian media have called this claim a fake, saying that Ukraine's National Resistance Center emphasized that Umerov did not make such a statement. Some social media users have spread this false claim, referring to the Ukrainian news agency "UNIAN," where the quote with such statement by Umerov was allegedly published. It stated:
The Verkhovna Rada must consider why boys in our country can have children at the age of 16, but can serve in the military only at the age of 18?
However, it was not possible to find such a quote on the official website of "UNIAN." According to the Ukrainian Law, "On Military Duty and Military Service," military service can be undertaken only from the age of 18.
On September 6, 2023, ex-lawmaker Rustem Umerov was appointed Ukraine's defense minister after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed him to replace Oleksii Reznikov. On September 3, 2023, Zelenskyy announced Reznikov's dismissal, saying it was time for "new approaches" in the Defense Ministry. On September 4, 2023, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov submitted his resignation. Reznikov's dismissal follows a scandal over the Defense Ministry's procurement of military jackets, after months of corruption allegations against his ministry. Reznikov was appointed in November 2021, several months before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
